ALAN TAYLOR Artist

PEN & INK 1

Welcome to ‘The Pen & Ink Project’.

Just to limber up, try copying the logo above freehand using any pen on any old scrap of paper. Use a pencil first if you like, then overwrite with the pen.

Keep it as smooth and free-flowing as possible. This is probably more difficult than you think.

You might then like to have a go at the logo turned upside-down. If that’s not enough sideways too.

Another thing you might like to try is copying your own signature, but upside down. Sign as usual then flip the paper upside down and copy. Turn it back the right way round to view the result.

It's all to get you observing and drawing what you see. Get that pen moving and remember - it knows when you are scared of it!

It isn’t essential to have specialist paper and pens, however if and when you buy I would recommend 'Staedtler pigment liner’ or ‘Unipin fine liner’. They come in sets (usually 4 pens) of varying thicknesses. The ink won’t fade and is waterproof. If you google the names you’ll find them online or go to any art shop. Any good quality drawing or cartridge paper will do. You might like to get a sketchbook.

If you are a traditionalist you might like a dip-in drawing pen and a bottle of ink. These give a more characterful line of varying thickness depending on the pressure applied.

Have a go with a fountain pen if you’ve got one.

Have fun!

PEN & INK 2

Here is an arrangement of simple ordinary objects.

The point of drawing them is to help understand how different light sources show off basic forms: cubes, cones, spheres and cylinders and variations. Draw them in pen to get the hang of which direction to draw lines to describe the form with speed and minimum marks.

These objects are really no different to buildings and a city skyline.

You could make your own ‘still life’ arrangement using the contents of a cupboard.

Notice how different light sources change the appearance of the objects. Do this with a table lamp or even a torch.

A tin of beans is a cylinder, an oxo cube is literally a cube, an orange is a sphere, a Cornetto is a cone but maybe not the best choice of still life subject!

Omit the surface decoration. This is a study not a pretty picture to hang in a frame.

You’ll start noticing that a building is basically a box with a pyramid for a roof. The dome of the Duomo in Florence is just an egg. A tree trunk is a cylinder. The moon is a sphere, etc.

(In some ways I prefer the middle version of my drawing).

PEN & INK 3

One of my sketchers sent me these impressive drawings of his own arrangements of objects. It looks like they're done in pencil which is a bit different to a pen, but who cares. He has used a pen and ink technique with the added advantage of being able to vary the density of his lines by applying different pressures.

A similar effect can be achieved using different thicknesses of pen. If you use fine pens for the background and work up to a thicker pen for the foreground it will help to create an illusion of depth.

Notice the interesting light source from behind the objects a bit to the left.

PEN & INK 4

"My first attempt at dawdling. Perhaps if I had drawn the table, the dubious looking shading may not look as naff!”

I think the spell check meant ‘doodling’, or perhaps it took longer than expected to draw.

It’s a good first effort and this subject throws up some interesting things.

When I look at the planter I see a tapered cylinder. That’s a cylinder which is wider at one end than the other. I suppose it’s part way to becoming a cone.

The raised decorative circles on the planter appear more oval (or elliptical) as they reach the edge.

The feet are themselves are little tapered cylinders.

And it’s worth having a close look at the leaf shape before you start drawing. It wouldn’t be practical with this plant (is it an aloe vera?) but I would normally pick a single leaf and look at it from different angles.

Remember it’s a cylinder or variation when you draw a plant pot, coffee mug, telegraph pole or even somebodies neck.

Keep doodling!

PEN & INK 5

Rosalie posted this on our WhatsApp group:

"Monday morning and I thought this would be easy,

Not so”

I asked if she minded with me talking about this. I’m not criticising, just trying to help everyone.

On the whole this is a good drawing. The top is the most difficult bit and that’s very accurate.

Putting the images side by side like this you probably think it’s easy to see the differences.

So when I look at this what do I see?

A jug?

For the purpose of drawing I’ll forget about the colour and the shiny surface.

The height is the same as the width.

You will have seen artists holding a pencil at arms length and sizing their subject up with one eye closed. By this method proportions can be compared.

Because the height and the width are the same the outline of this jug will fit exactly into a square (or a circle).

Realising this makes the drawing a lot easier to construct.

With the pen I’m not copying exactly what I see, but creating a kind of 3 dimensional illusion.

I notice that the main light is coming from the front right, although the overall lighting is a bit diffused. A single light source may have been better.

So wouldn’t it be easier to buy a projector, or print a photo of the jug and just trace it?

Well yes but I want you to see this wonderful world through an artist’s eyes.

PEN & INK 6
IS TRACING CHEATING?

Who cares how a drawing or painting is achieved - isn’t the only thing that matters the result?

“A picture is something which requires as much knavery, trickery and deceit as the perpetration of a crime.” EDGAR DEGAS

Is there any such thing as cheating at drawing?

Well, if so we better disregard the drawings and paintings of Leonardo, Vermeer and Canaletto for a start. They all used a 'camera obscura’. Google it if you are interested.

Artists have been at it since the Renaissance.

Had they had iPhones and computers they would have used them. Michelangelo would have used a projector for the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

So I don’t feel guilty now in telling you that I sometimes trace directly from my computer screen.

Even Van Gogh used a frame with wires stretched across it.

And squaring up a drawing has been used for a long time.

Here’s me and Laurent drawing alongside each other. Laurent is studying architecture at Sheffield University and coming to me occasionally for drawing tuition. His ‘site’ for study is Kelham Island. Here are our drawings completed in 2 hours. We did however (after all I’ve said) start with a traced outline.

However you get your image onto paper, it really helps to be able to draw and understand what you are doing.

The trouble is (as with everything else) the more you know, the more you realise there’s even more that you don’t know.

Freehand drawings have character and soul like the artist who drew them.

Even starting with a traced outline, you still have to know what to draw and what to leave out.

Tracing isn’t cheating. But learn how to draw - don't cheat yourself out of something wonderful.